The Protector
by Little Dark Dynamite
Summary: Tristan copes with the death of his cat, Big Boy. Number 4 in the Tristan Chronicles, please read the first three, too!


**Hi there!**

**I think this must be the shortest Tristan Chronicle yet. And the saddest. But I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

**The Protector **

**Number 4 in the Tristan Chronicles **

Tristan sat in his chair at the table. A bowl of Cheerios with no milk was placed in front of him. But he didn't feel hungry.

Something was up. He could tell. His mom was sitting on the couch in front of the television. But she was crying. And she wasn't even bothering to watch her favorite TV show. Trina wasn't as quite as emotional as Mom, but Tristan can tell she was just as depressed as Mom was. Her brown eyes were also filled with tears, but they never escaped like Mom's tears. And she was pacing around silently.

Tristan could feel all the pain in that room. He let out a low, wordless whine.

Trina trudged over to the chair next to him and slowly sat down. She turned to face him.

"You don't understand what's going on, huh?"

Tristan shook his head.

Trina sighed. Her eyes were blinking rapidly, trying not to cry. She didn't want to cry in front of Tristan. She knew he would get worried. However, she knew he was already worried because he saw Mom. "It must be nice sometimes when you don't understand something. Ignorance is bliss."

"Ayyy." _To you, maybe,_ Tristan thought. To him, it sucked. There was always way too much confusion for him.

"Hey, I only said sometimes."

Tristan stared back patiently, waiting for Trina to tell him whatever was happening.

"Well... Big Boy died today, Tin." A single tear ran down Trina's cheek.

"Hee?" Big Boy? The best cat ever? Dead?

"He lived a good life, didn't he? He was twelve, and that's a good long life for a cat."

Tristan slowly nodded. Trina had told him Big Boy's age before and how he was born a stray cat.

"Hey, remember when we first found him? Well, you might not, you were pretty young. Mom, how old was Tin when we found Big Boy?"

"Three." Mom didn't even look over. She had finally stopped crying, but she still looked sad. She sighed. "I miss him already."

Tristan frowned and nodded. He did remember.

_Flashback_

_"Hey, look what I found outside in the alley!" _

_Mom held out an orange and white cat. He was so skinny, it looked like he hadn't eaten in days. His eyes were a stunning shade of blue and his pink nose was twitching madly. _

_Three year old Tristan's eyes widened. A real cat! In their house, too! _

_Five year old Trina reached over to pet his back, then squealed, earning a "Shush!" from Mom and causing the cat to leap out of her arms. "He's so bony!" _

_"That's because he hasn't eaten. He looks about six months old, but __he's enormous. You're a big boy, huh?" Mom asked the cat. Big Boy looked up at her from the ground. His nose was still twitching. _

_"Looks like he's a year old to me," Dad said. "Too bad we can't keep him." _

_"Why not?" Mom asked, annoyed. She would do anything for stray cats- she loved them that much. _

_"He's a stray. He might have a disease." _

_"You can't catch a disease from a cat. Especially strays." _

_"But we might not be able to-" _

_"We're KEEPING HIM!" _

_"Fine..." Dad grumbled. To Big Boy he said, "Just don't get any fur on me." _

_Mom glared. _

_Meanwhile, Big Boy was looking at Tristan. Tristan stared back. Big Boy slowly walked towards him. Tristan raised his hand towards him. Big Boy rubbed his head against his hand. Tristan giggled. _

"Can't believe you remember that," Trina muttered. "But I know you remember how he always followed you around, watching over you. I think he knew you were autistic."

"Huh." Tristan thought about this. Maybe Big Boy did know.

_2nd Flashback_

_Five year old Tristan was swinging on his swingset happily. Big Boy was at his side, next to the swingset. He looked up at Tristan, then silently walked across. _

_Tristan came flying backwards, his foot striking Big Boy's side. Big Boy stumbled, but maintained his balance. He then laid down on the side that didn't kicked underneath him. _

_"__Tristan!" A seven year old Trina cried indignantly. "You kicked Big Boy!" _

_He looked down and tried to lift his feet up in time, but struck Big Boy again. _

_Big Boy only tweaked his ear, as if he was saying, "I don't care." And he stayed there as Tristan carefully swung above him. _

Tristan let out another whine, but this one was louder than before. He pouted. Big Boy, his cat, his protector, was gone. "Hoyyy."

Trina put her hand on Tristan's shoulder. "It's okay, Tin. Like I said, he lived a good life. I bet he's looking down at us already and he will always watch over us." Then she got up, ruffled Tristan's hair, and walked over to the couch to comfort Mom.

Tristan considered this. A small, sad smile appeared across his face. Trina was right. Just because Big Boy was gone doesn't mean he would no longer watch him.

He stared out the window, up at the sky, and smiled, knowing for sure that his protector would see him.

**The End **

**I know, this was a sad one, but my cat (his name was Big Boy) did die in real life and I felt like I needed to write this. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and please review. **

**~LDD**


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